Kurtenbach: The Warriors seem to love being the NBA’s most hated team

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Kevin Durant poses during a photo session a the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Stephen Curry dribbles for the filming of a Warrior's commercial during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Kevin Durant is interviewed for the radio during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Draymond Green poses for the camera during a photo session at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Brandon Belt answers questions at the social media booth during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Kevin Durant poses for a Warrior's commercial shoot during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Stephen Curry poses for a portrait during a photo session at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Javale McGee answers questions during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Shaun Livingston is filmed answering questions during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

(Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Zaza Pachulia holds up his bobblehead during the team's media day at their practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2107. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Kevin Durant plays around during a photo shoot at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Donald Trump's withdrawn invitation: "He was going to break up with us before we could break up with him." (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson poses for a photograph during the team's media day at their practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2107. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Stephen Curry attends a Warrior's portrait session during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Klay Thompson and Draymond Green goof around during a photo shoot during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson poses for a photograph during the team's media day at their practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2107. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Draymond Green models the Warrior's newest uniform during a photo session at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers is interviewed during the team's media day at their practice facility in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2107. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND — After a summer of celebration, reflection, addition, and subtraction, the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors showed up for their first day of work on Friday.

There were a few more people greeting them at the office this year — the team’s public relations staff estimated that there were 200 credentialed media members in attendance at Friday’s media day — but the Warriors didn’t seem to mind the extra attention.

Four years ago, the Warriors were a plucky upstart — a team on the rise. No one expected that team to ascend to where they are at the start of the 2017-18 season: atop the mountain as the defending champions and creators of an existential crisis around the NBA.

They’re the league’s “super villains”.

It really is the Warriors against the world.

And the team seems to love it all.

“Everyone wants to see the Warriors lose now, which is fine. It’s a great position to be in when you’re probably the most hated in the league,” Klay Thompson said Friday. “All the greatest teams are hated. So we embrace it.”

That might be the theme of the Warriors’ 2017-18 season: embrace the hate.

It’s a motto that could only be embodied by a team that’s comfortable with itself and its place in the zeitgeist.

Kevin Durant waits for instructions during the filming of a Warriors commercial during the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

The Warriors are, again, a prohibitive favorite to win the title thanks to what might be the best roster in modern NBA history, and the moves made around the NBA this past offseason proved what had been suspected for a few years: the entire NBA universe revolves around the blue-and-gold clad team in Oakland.

The Warriors are a phenomenon of historical proportions, but before this season, I’m not sure the Golden State players, coaches, and front-office staff quite understood what that meant.

That’s because the Warriors’ changes over the prior three seasons happened so fast, it would have been impossible for the team to fully embrace each evolution.

In the process, the Warriors never had a chance to grow comfortable with themselves. Until this year, that is.

Stephen Curry dribbles during a photo session at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

It seems ridiculous with the benefit of hindsight, but this Warriors team’s first title, in 2015, was a surprise. The Warriors weren’t even favorited to win their own division that season, much less the team’s first championship in 40 years.

And when they arrived at training camp the next year, they were beaming, but the prior season was a whirlwind and being the nearly universally beloved top dog was a brand-new experience. It was going to take a while for that team to understand itself and its place in the league.

We all know what happened in 2016 — the 73-win Warriors lost more than a shot at the greatest season in NBA history when they blew a 3-1 Finals lead: they also lost the nation’s admiration. The Warriors didn’t respond well to what was really the only adversity they faced in that record-setting season and a new narrative around the team formed before the start of last season.

The Warriors also added Kevin Durant and a bevy of other newcomers in that 2016 offseason, including the inscrutable JaVale McGee. They became the super villains.

There was no way the team was going to be comfortable with itself heading into the 2016-17 campaign. There were too many new things happening.

Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant (35) talks to Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala (9) during their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, June 12, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

This season, Golden State returns 12 players from last season’s roster. They don’t need to figure out how to co-exist with Durant. They know how to integrate the equally inscrutable Nick Young into the team thanks to their success with acclimatizing McGee. They know how to handle the intense media scrutiny that stems from everything anyone on the team does.

The Warriors know who they are and what they’re about — there’s not going to be much of a feeling out period for anyone this year.

And that’s probably a good thing, because the rest of the NBA — and particularly the Rockets (who acquired Chris Paul) and Thunder (who traded for Paul George) made clear overtures this offseason to overthrowing the crown.

“Teams aren’t waiting for something to happen. They’re not waiting to get lucky,” Thompson said. “They’re out there doing something about it and we take notice. And that’s what keeps us on the edge, and it doesn’t allow us to relax one bit.”

Still, the Warriors know that if they play their best, there’s not a team in the league that can touch them.

Draymond Green yells for the camera during a commercial shoot at the Golden State Warriors media day at the Rakuten Performance Center in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017.(Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

And while every team says it at the start of the season, it’s true for the Warriors: Their only challenge, this season, is themselves.

“I think Steve Kerr says it best: He said he’s never worried about us when we’re threatened. He said we always respond well when we’re threatened and in a vulnerable position,” Andre Iguodala said. “But it’s those times of success where we can kind of take a back seat and start to relax and kind of put it in cruise control too early.”

“So mentally we still have some room to grow, which I think is positive. And this would be an important year for, I think, a couple of guys, how they mentally continue to grow and be mentally stronger.”

This Warriors team — primed and ready to make everyone else why they even bother to play — could become even better?

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